Iyalode Efunsetan Aníwúrà

Iyalode Efunsetan Aníwúrà has always been described as a very rich woman who turned evil and regularly murdered people and her slaves, she was never married, never had any children and was referred to as lakiriboto because of her affairs with her female slaves{you may call it tomboy/lesbian}. Of course it takes a tomboy to have such personality to measure up with strong men. 

Some even labeled Efunsetan as a criminal and a deviant and that she poisoned herself when her cottage was invaded. But there is a different side to Efunsetan’s story and you will only hear this if you move close to older great grandmothers who were also close to few ambitious grandmothers. You will discover that much of the story about her was altered just to depict her as completely evil and also to serve as a deterrent to wives or women who may have the thought of being ambitious, a bid to discourage the African woman from craving power and wealth. 

A bit of backstory

Efunsetan Aniwura rose to become a very powerful and wealthy trader in the 19th century, she is one of the few Yoruba women that has withstood the test of history. Oral tradition states that she had three large farms, and that no less than 100 slaves worked in each at a time. Apparently she owned over 2,000 slaves in her lifetime.

Like other Yoruba women traders, Efunsetan travelled across the land trading with all sorts of people. Her speciality was in arms and ammunition, she would lend these to warriors when they were going on military expeditions and it seems she also went to war a few times herself. She contributed to discussions on issues of war and peace due to her important position as an arms trader and thus had an influence in politics. She was the Iyalode (I like to translate this as Minister of Women Affairs although this may be limiting) of Ibadan. She is credited with the revival of the Alakija festival and is said to have performed the annual ceremony in dedication to Ori. Efunsetan also possessed “spiritual” prowess, “black magic”, “witchcraft” whatever you want to call it. She was very beautiful, rich, audacious, proud, daring, someone who could not be crossed, fearsome and fearless…

It is said that Efunsetan’s downfall came when she crossed the wrong person herself. Aare Latoosa was a powerful general, warrior and warload who fought in the Kiriji wars. He also frequently borrowed arms from Efunsetan and in 1874, he was late in paying the debit he owed her causing Efunsetan to cease her usual support. As a result Latoosa set out on a military expendition without as much arms as he expected, when he returned he had a bone to pick with Efunsetan. Formally, he levelled three charges against her;

• That she did not allow her forces to accompany him to war.
• That she never sent him supplies during the war campaign.
• That she did not come in person to meet him outside the town wall to congratulate him on his safe return.

This apparently started the battle between Latoosa and Efunsetan. According to Okunola and Ojo, Efunsetan was removed as Iyalode in that same year (1874), she was also heavily fined for her “error” all of which she paid. It is then suggested that Efunsetan tried to bribe other powerful people in order to seek Latoosa’s forgiveness, in vain.

The second issue that seriously affected Efunsetan is that of her presumed only daughter dying during childbirth in 1860. In her grief at not having anyone to inherit her wealth Efunsetan transformed, becoming cruel and bitter especially towards her slaves. She would physically assault and starve them, and often kill them extrajudically something that apparently did not happen to other slaves in Yorubaland. It is suggested that her aggressions were targeted towards women because she was childless after losing her only child, she would kill any of her female slaves that became pregnant and any male slave that proposed love.

Due to her excessive behaviour, Efunsetan was eventualy found guilty of the contempt by the council of chiefs, the traditional court back in the day, but she refused the punishment of self-exile.

In the midst of this, there was a wider conspiracy to have Efunsetan murdered. This conspiracy involved powerful chiefs surrounding Latoosa. With the help of Kumiyilo (also spelt Kumuyilo), Efunsetan’s adopted son (this is important and I’ll come back to it later), they succeeded in hiring two slaves to bash Efunsetan’s head in while she slept.

After this murder most foul, Kumiyilo was installed as the head of Efunsetan’s family. However the family protested and insisted on an investigation into Efunsetan’s mysterious death. Worried about an insurrection, Latoosa bowed to their pressure and summoned Kumiyilo for interrogation whereupon Kumiyilo named three of Latoosa’s close aides in the conspiracy to murder. In the end Kumiyilo was deposed as the head of the family and the actual murderers were executed.